Millau travel guide

For the cable-stayed road-bridge spanning the valley of the River Tarn near Millau see Millau Viaduct.
Millau is a town and commune of southern France. It is located at where the Tarn and Dourbie rivers meet.
By the first century AD there was a settlement on the spot, identified by Dieudonne du Rey late in the 19th century as Condatomagus, which was the major earthenware centre in the Roman Empire, La Graufesenque. This major Roman site supplied most of the best pottery right across the Roman Empire for 150 years. It was not in the centre of the town but sat on the right bank of the River Tarn half a mile away. Yet even today, with much major new development, the centre of the old Roman and medieval town on the opposite (left) bank of the Tarn remains poorly excavated, and the newly renovated Maison du Peuple, almost on the site of the old Roman forum, saw no archaeology before major mechanical excavation for recent new very deep foundations.
Surprisingly, the local museum sits almost adjacent to this site.
In the Middle Ages the town had one of the major mediaeval bridges across the River Tarn. With 17 spans, if it was still standing it would be a major monument; but one poorly maintained span fell in the 18th century and so the bridge was mostly demolished. Just one span remains, with a mill, now an art gallery, as testament to this significant trading route from north to south across pre Renaissance France. (...) more....

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